At CMCX, the annual highlight of the content marketing industry, decision-makers from marketing and media meet to learn about the latest trends and discuss best cases. We interviewed Rene Kühn, the organizer of CMCX, to build excitement for this mega-event.

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The CMCX 2020 - Our anniversary interview with Rene Kühn

1) "People matter" was one of your main statements in our interview last year. As far as networking goes, do you have some tips for content marketing newbies? How exactly should you invest in your own network?

René Kühn: Mingle with the people - for real! The personal contact and the context in which you meet gives networking a completely different depth. It's a completely different relationship when you network in person at CMCX, for example, and thus build a shared "history" or whether you connect with someone on LinkedIn.

Especially the younger digital people, who communicate predominantly via social platforms, forget that these days....

In order to systematically build up one's personal network, a structured mapping and keywording of the network in a classic CRM is necessary.

2) More and more companies are producing content. What's your ultimate tip for getting/staying visible in times of content shock? How would you generate leads in 2020?

René Kühn: Try to always keep your goal and your target group in mind in the strategy, production and distribution of the content. That means: invest in unique content for a specific target group with a specific core topic.

If you publish really high-quality and unique content in this process, you may think about a kind of members' area for lead generation, for which users have to register in order to consume the content. This is then also guaranteed to develop further opportunities, dialogs and perhaps even new business models.

3) Which presentation are you looking forward to the most at this year's CMCX? And why?

René Kühn: Clearly: This special lecture by one of the speakers on March 10 and 11 on the CMCX stage ? To clarify this specific statement: Our goal, with the extremely resource-intensive curation of content on our stages, is to make it worthwhile to travel to Munich for every single slot.

If you take a look at our line-up and the agenda for this year, which includes REWE, Bosch, OTTO, AIDA, McDonald's, Nestlé, Mastercard, AOK, Siemens, Vaillant, Vorwerk and many more, you can imagine how much heart and soul has gone into it. It's best if everyone takes a detailed look at the agenda and picks out their highlights on the five stages!

4) Modified question from a job interview: At what point do you see CMCX in 2030?

René Kühn: To be honest, I'm not at all sure whether people will still be talking about content marketing in 2030 or whether what we call content marketing today won't simply be marketing then.

We have seen a clear shift in communication over the last 10 years: Content has become the core of communication, from which the other marketing activities derive. In this respect, CMCX will become more and more broadly positioned and dedicated to more and more areas.

In 2011, we started as a pure (and still somewhat small) conference. Back then, we never thought that one day it would turn into a large trade fair/platform with marketing tech providers, influencer marketing specialists and much more.

5) CMCX celebrates its anniversary this year. Which content marketing method was in vogue in 2011, but would probably be laughed at today?

René Kühn: In retrospect, the topics were already quite forward-looking: In 2011, it was all about mobile content, augmented reality, social media, etc.. Presumably, parts of the audience weren't that far ahead at that time (especially when I think about the predictions of mobile content ...). And of course, from today's perspective, we rather smile at the critics who talked about crying and tubes.

What probably no one would have guessed is how complex, broad and deep content marketing would become in terms of possibilities: trends from our history such as influencer marketing or native advertising are becoming disciplines in their own right. The use of a wide variety of technologies in content-oriented marketing facilitates creative output and distribution.

6th) Keyword: opinion leadership. Which German company do you think has the potential to become an opinion leader with its content?

René Kühn: An estimated 69,000 German companies have this potential ?

But I see particular potential in B2B companies, which - as they like to say - are somewhat "lagging behind" in terms of modern communication. Content marketing offers enormous opportunities to address relevant topics of the future, such as mobility and medicine, and to communicate with the target group in a completely new way.

7) Are there any changes compared to the previous year? For example, new formats or topics?

René Kühn: As content marketing has evolved, so has CMCX over the years: On March 10 and 11, it's no longer about pure content, but about everything that has to do with content - from technologies to attitude topics (keyword: purpose marketing).

For all of them, visitors (of which we expect more again this year) will find the appropriate exhibitors in the exhibition area, presentations at the conference and workshops.

And in line with the previous question: We are putting even more focus on B2B marketing with more speakers and cases from B2B (e.g. from Bosch, REHAU, B. Braun, Turck, GKN). There will also be an industry meet-up and an extra guided tour of the trade show for B2B companies.

8) What are the highlights of CMCX 2020? Why should you visit it?

René Kühn: At CMCX, visitors will find everything they need to know about communication over the course of two days: Whether it's inspiration and strategic help from a top speaker's best case, concrete instructions for action in the workshops, or a direct exchange with a tech provider at the trade show.

You may not meet all of the 7,000 expected visitors, but in addition to the Content Marketing Lounge and the legendary CMCX-NIGHT, there are plenty of opportunities to network with like-minded marketers and other companies. Over the course of the year, this will save you a lot of travel time and research.

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My conclusion

CMCX should be a must-attend event for marketers and theme makers to perfectly align with current methods and cases and communicate more successfully through new impulses!

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10 percent discount on your CMCX ticket

CMCX takes place on March 10 and 11 at Messe München and is Europe's largest content marketing event.

contentbird will also be on site as an exhibitor and will be happy to advise you on your content marketing activities.

"Every year I look forward to presenting new innovations at CMCX. The new contentbird platform is definitely one of them." - René Kühn, organizer of CMCX

Use this code to get discounted tickets on the official website of CMCX 2019:

CMCX2020-Contentbird-10Percent

And here you can make an appointment with us directly.

The most important info about CMCX:

• March 10-11, 2020, Munich Trade Fair Centre
• Visitors: approx. 7,000+
• Conference: 100+ speakers, including from OTTO, McDonald's, Bosch, Mastercard, Siemens
• Fair: 100+ exhibitors and partners
• Specials: Workshops, CMCX-NIGHT, Solution-Area, Content-Marketing on Rails, Industry Meet-Ups and much more.

The contentbird team and Rene Kühn wish you a lot of fun!

All info about CMCX

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